Raised by Trolls
by darkrunner
Summary: Instead of leaving Elsa to her parents, the trolls take her in, teach her how to use her powers, and never tell her about the prophecy that she will destroy Arendelle. [Ice Bros] [Snow Sisters] [Frohana] [aka, all the canon movie relationships]
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Elsa raised by trolls.

* * *

Their horses tore up the mountain, following the trail of lights blazing in the sky. Their hooves thundered. The wind screamed. But over it all, Elsa heard her own hammering heartbeat.

She looked to her mother's horse, to her sister cradled in her mother's arms while the queen steered one-handed. She saw the streak of white hair, and the scene replayed itself in her mind

"_Catch me!"_

"_**Anna**-!"_

Elsa forced herself to look away and buried her face in her father's shoulder. Her hands fisted in his thick coat, arms wrapped around his waist. She pressed her eyes shut, but still she saw Anna falling, lying still, _freezing. _Elsa felt her heart pounding its way out of her chest. Guilt and anxiety and raw _fear _for her sister's life clawed its way through her, like it might tear her in half. She held tight—tighter—_tighter—_to her father as the horse raced on.

* * *

The Northern Lights faded, leaving the moon hanging heavy among the stars. A sturdy boulder watched the last of the light disappear. Unrolling, it stood on two feet, sighed, and scratched its grassy mane, puzzling the lights' sudden departure.

The wind sang softly to him. Something was amiss. He — the not-rock was a _him _— he scanned the valley below from his vantage point on the cliff. The ground was littered with his boulder kin, all of them looking out towards the fjord, panicking, freezing so they resembled nothing more than rocks and stones and boulders.

The rock-like man curled in on himself and began the long roll back to the valley. Under his skin, the ground trembled with the speed of two desperate horses. The earth hummed strange songs of ice and snow.

He rolled faster.

* * *

The sled was all but useless in the thick grass, but Sven pulled valiantly. Kristoff was sprawled on top of their hard-earned ice block. The cold didn't bother him. It was comforting. Familiar.

But mostly he and Sven were now low enough on the mountain that the summer night was _really _hot. The only relief was their precious ice. Kristoff squirmed, rolling over to hug the ice block. Sven stopped pulling with a loud bray.

_Get off and help me push! _Kristoff imagined him saying.

"You're a big reindeer now. You can do it." Kristoff made no effort to move from his cool perch. Sven huffed and rolled his eyes. With an expert flick of his hind legs, he bucked the sled just hard enough to send Kristoff sliding off the ice and sitting hard on the ground.

"_Ow,_" Kristoff groaned. "Okay, okay," he finished with a half-grin at his friend's antics. "I'll get up."

A gentle rumbling made them both turn and look down the mountain. Something—no, _two_ somethings were approaching fast. Two saddled horses flew past them, close enough that the sled bounced with the force of their hoofbeats. But before he could yell or think about the riders that nearly killed them, he saw the frost glistening on the grass.

"_Ice_?"

He and Sven looked at each other for one disbelieving second. They dropped sled and harness. Their cube of ice was long forgotten. Kristoff leaped onto the reindeer's back. Sven ran as fast as his little legs could carry them both.

"Faster, Sven!"

* * *

The ground sped under the rolling troll, his speed blurring the things the earth was telling him. He could tell the horses halted, two, maybe three riders dismounting. He felt the ground move as the entire valley of trolls revealed themselves and inspected the humans.

And still the wind sang with strange magic.

"The king!"

"It's the king!"

Their cries carried in the night air. Pabbie rolled himself into the center of the mass of trolls and presented himself before the Royal Family of Arendelle.

The Queen carried her youngest daughter in her arms. The girl was in a fitful sleep, a shock of white hair blazing in the moonlight. She pushed forward, but Pabbie's eyes fell to the older princess. The wind was screaming in his ears.

Only the natural magic of the valley kept the ground from freezing beneath his feet. He took the frightened girl's hand.

"Born with the powers or cursed?" The cold pounded in her veins, chilled his earthy hand.

"Born," he father replied, a protective hand on her shoulder. The queen could not bear waiting one second more and threw herself before the troll.

"Please," she begged. "Save her." It was not a question.

Pabbie stretched his hands over the girl till he felt the ice in her head. He pulled it from her, pulled the traces hiding in the corners of her memory. The icy ballroom morphed into a snowy hillside. Two girls in light nightgowns were suddenly wearing heavy coats. Pabbie rolled the altered memories back, placed a gentle hand on the girl's head, and the pain vanished from her face. She sighed, smiling faintly. The queen held her close, and the princess looked like she wanted to do the same.

"She will be alright," Pabbie reassured them all. The elder girl's brow was still creased with worry.

"But she won't remember I have powers?" The magic buffeted around inside her, like a raging storm, fierce and uncontrolled. Pabbie shook his head.

"It's for the best," the king promised, drawing his daughter close.

"Listen to me, Elsa." The king was not pleased the troll kept addressing his daughter directly. "Your power will only grow.

"There is beauty in your magic," Pabbie conjured the lights, drawing them into Elsa's likeness, Elsa forming a beautiful snowflake in the sky. "But also great danger. You must learn to control it."

Elsa's eyes widened at the sight, the snowflake dissolving into swirling red shapes, consuming her. She trembled, afraid. Pabbie cautioned, "Fear will be your enemy."

She buried her face in her father's shoulder.

"She can learn to control it. I'm sure of it." The king circled his arms around his family, drawing them to him. Away from the trolls.

Pabbie's round face creased with worry. "Yes. She can. But not with you."

The king tightened his hold. "What?" Pabbie drew a deep breath. Even the trolls had to pay due to the royal family of Arendelle, but he could not let the king destroy the country.

"You will shut her away. You will lock her in."

The king's eyes betrayed him. "Until she can control herself." His voice was steel. But Pabbie stood his ground, his footing sure and firm.

"That will not teach control. Practice. Acceptance. Knowledge of magic. These are the things she needs." Pabbie braced for the protests he was about to endure. "Your majesty, I recommend the princess stay with us."

Now the queen echoed, "What?"

"Impossible," the king replied. "She cannot. She is the heir."

"She will freeze the kingdom she is to inherit if you do not."

Parents looked at their children. Anna, sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms; Elsa, clutching her father's hand, but nodding at Pabbie's words.

"She won't," her mother replied, confidently, foolishly. Elsa looked at the sleeping child in her mother's arms.

"I don't want to hurt anyone ever again," Elsa said still looking at her sister. Turning to the trolls, she met Pabbie's deep eyes.

"I can teach you," he nodded. "But you must stay here."

"Will I ever see them again?" she whispered, her grip tightening, still holding the king's hand.

"Of course!" He huffed. Apparently rumors of trolls kidnapping princesses had not entirely disappeared over the centuries. Elsa was not reassured by his annoyance. Pabbie cleared his throat, regaining his composure. "You will return home as soon as you can. Your parents may come and go as they are able until then."

"Just my parents?" Pabbie followed Elsa's gaze to her sleeping sister.

"Yes."

All eyes were on Elsa. The king barely held back his protests. The queen was resigned. Her child lay heavy in her arms. She knew what choice her daughter would make.

They all stared at her, but Pabbie's eyes caught hers and held fast. It was like looking into the ocean, into the spaces between the stars, black and vast and endless. Elsa pulled out of her father's tight grasp. The night air was warm and thick, and somewhere in the back of her mind she registered how rare that warmth was.

Her father whispered her name—_Elsa?—_as she took a trembling step towards the wizened troll. Her mother said nothing, but Elsa could feel her eyes on her back, loving but distant, struggling to accept her daughter's choice.

"I will stay."

* * *

The riders had dismounted and were standing in the middle of a stone circle when Kristoff and Sven slid behind a boulder to watch. The ice had disappeared. The father called to the boulders around him, and suddenly they started to move. Kristoff and Sven peered father out when their rock began to shake.

Kristoff tried to spring away, but suddenly the rock was a person—well not a people-person but a… rock-person… no, a troll! The troll grabbed him and Sven around the neck. Kristoff vaguely recalled stories of trolls living deep in the mountains, but never imagined them looking like this.

"Cuties! I'm gonna keep you!" she beamed.

His first thought was _Um, __**no. **__We're a couple of kids and you're a random troll. Don't you teach your troll kids not to talk to strangers?_

And then she held onto them, her strong rocky arms surprisingly warm and gentle. And he thought _this isn't so bad. _When was the last time someone had cared whether he stayed or left, huh? The ice harvesters tolerated him – but they didn't care. If he and Sven didn't show up at their camp tonight, no one would come looking for him. No one would lose sleep. No one would likely even notice.

He watched the royal family – he'd never seen them before, but one, the troll lady was whispering narration to them, and two, anyone with eyes could see 'regal' in every inch of them; the man with his stern face and medaled jacket; The woman's crown and tightly pinned hair; the little girl with her perfect posture and powder-blue nightdress – and then the mother shifted and he saw the last figure, a smaller girl, covered with a blanket, eyes closed and face scrunched in pain. The troll next to him ceased her narration of the history of the Arendellian crown with a small gasp.

There was no doubt they were the royal family. But in this moment they were not king and queen and princesses, but parents and sisters, helpless and scared. The mother knelt, pleading for her daughter. Pabbie waved his hands over the little girl. There was a blue spark of magic, a flash of memories, and then Pabbie's hands were resting on her head and she relaxed and slept peacefully. Kristoff exhaled sharply, relieved. He didn't even notice he'd been holding his breath.

Pabbie painted blue lights in the air, a woman throwing snow – was it supposed to be the little girl in the blue dress? Kristoff watched her clutch her father's coat as the lights turned red and attacked the image of her. The troll-lady murmured something indistinct as her brow furrowed. Her eyes flicked down to Kristoff, and he hastily pointed himself at Pabbie and the royals, who were now having some kind of discussion.

Sven snorted and shook his head. _Can we go now? This is boring, _Kristoff imagined him saying. The troll shushed him. Sven stuck his head out, sending pleading eyes at Kristoff, who only shrugged back at him. _Sorry, buddy. I think we're stuck here. _Sven huffed.

Raised voices interrupted them. There was an argument in progress. The older girl was halfway between the King and the old troll. The king and troll traded shouts in a verbal tug-of-war for the girl's future. But she stood firm and accepted the troll's extended hand.

There were teary goodbyes. The woman knelt down, and the older girl wrapped her arms around her mother and sister. The king touched their shoulders. The queen pulled back, whispering to her daughter, who nodded, once, twice, continuously, like she didn't trust herself to just _say_ the words _yes, yes, I love you too. _They stood. Pabbie spoke to them, the king barked a curt reply.

Kristoff wondered what they were saying. He felt strangely attached to the situation. The king and queen were mounting their horses. The girl stood in the grass, watching them. She shivered in the moonlight. Her shadow was long and black as the night, and it shivered with her, her only companion. He stared in awe at the princess with the power to create ice. She was alone, just like him.

Pabbie was motioning to the crowd of trolls in the rocky circle. One by one, they curled up and rolled out of sight, off to other parts of the valley. Soon there was no one left watching the princess but Pabbie, and their unseen group at the edge of the forest. Kristoff cast a sidelong glance at Sven and their new guardian.

Maybe not alone.

A chill wind whistled through the valley.

* * *

Elsa watched her father lift Anna onto the horse. Her mother wrapped one protective arm around her daughter and tugged the reins with a practiced hand. Elsa wanted to run to them.

She wanted to say goodbye to Anna.

She wanted to cry.

Elsa did none of these things. Her parents waved, all their goodbyes spent. It wasn't goodbye _forever. _But something had changed in all of them that night. Suddenly life was very serious and dangerous. A great pressure settled over her - of an entire kingdom; her mother and father; _Anna_ – and she couldn't tell which was the worst.

The hoofbeats faded into the humid air. The trolls, prodded by Pabbie, had rolled away to give her privacy. All but the elder were gone, scattered about the valley, back to their nightly routine. Pabbie settled into the ground just out of earshot, but in plain sight. He seemed to be intently studying a patch of ferns.

Elsa wrapped her arms around herself. The night was warm, but she barely felt it anymore. Dew sparkled on the grass at her feet. With a shudder, she realized she'd frozen it. She looked anywhere that wasn't the frost clinging to her shoes, and finally settled on the clearing sky. The lights had been there only an hour before. She and Anna had been asleep and safe and happy and _together _an hour before. But Anna made her think of how everything had gone so very wrong, so she stared at the stars and willed herself not to think anything at all.

* * *

Pabbie glanced back at his new charge. He felt her magic through the ground, veins of ice threading through the solid earth. There was great power in her. Pabbie knew this was the right path, to take her in and teach her, but still he worried. With a sigh, he sunk into the ground until she was ready to talk to him again.

Everyone else had dispersed and gone about their nightly business, so a sneaking figure near the edge of the forest caught his eyes. Quietly, Pabbie rolled towards it. The earth said nothing suspicious, no traces of magic to be found. He was less worried and more just curious when he righted himself in front of the figure.

The three figures.

Pabbie sighed. "Bulda."

The troll froze mid-step, arms askew, hiding her newfound human and reindeer children behind her. "Yes?" she asked, nonchalant, as if her strange posing to cover the awkward shapes behind her was completely normal.

"We can't take in human children."

"_Excuse_ me?" She nodded at Elsa, still hovering on the edges of the circle, watching the trail of her parents' horses.

"That—she has _magic. _She is different."

"Mm-hmm," Bulda crossed her arms. Kristoff and Sven stared sheepishly at Pabbie. Bulda jumped and tried to throw her hands back up to cover them.

"Bulda. I can see them," Pabbie deadpanned. She signed, dropping her hands and any pretense of hiding them, and now pushed them forward with what she hoped was an appropriately tragic and sympathetic expression. Pabbie looked to the princess, alone and fragile in the moonlight.

"They're the same age," Bulda encouraged. The elder troll cast a wary eye at Kristoff. Somehow he did not think the king would like this boy living with his daughter. Though after the way the king had spoken, Pabbie did not much care what the king would like. The boy fidgeted, trying to decide the most presentable way to hold himself. He pulled his arms to his sides, then clasped them together, then tucked them behind his back, all the while trying to look innocent and helpless. The reindeer shook its head.

_I'll regret this someday_.

"Be careful. I do not know what magic the princess holds. I leave you responsible for him, Bulda."

Sven snorted indignantly.

"For _them,_" Pabbie corrected.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: What? I actually wrote a second chapter? Yes, I do intend to keep writing this fic, though with Midoricon coming up I doubt I'll get to the next chapter anytime soon.

So, uh, I don't actually know anything about hockey, but it's a fandom thing that Kristoff plays hockey with the trolls, so if anyone can give me advice on how hockey works for the next chapter, that'd be super cool.

* * *

Pabbie yawned and stretched, his rocky shoulders creaking. The sun was just setting behind the toothy mountains. The peaks' shadows cut the stone floor of the valley.

It was strangely early for a troll. Though he slept little in his old age, Pabbie usually woke after moonrise like all of his kin. Anything before midnight was early for a troll. But it seemed ungracious, not to mention impractical for one trying to control magic, to force his new charge to become nocturnal.

So here he was, slowly changing his sleep schedule and waiting for Elsa to return from... wherever she was. He scanned the hillside.

His cave was set halfway up a rounded peak that towered over the valley. A well-worn path curved around the entrance, leading down to the gently sloping fields, and farther west, still shining in the light of the setting sun, was the center of troll life, the stone amphitheater where they had first met. The valley stretched out, stone as far as the eye could see, its smooth plane broken only by the occasional mossy boulder and dead tree. On the horizon the forest curved around the stony fields, holding them in the palm of its thorny grasp.

Sleeping trolls dotted the ledges of the stone circle, looking like nothing more than moss-covered rocks.

A gentle tremor told him someone was rolling down his pathway. He trundled to the entrance. A troll uncurled and paused at his doorstep. Curious, he thought. At this time of day? Bulda stood up straight, scanning the valley just as Pabbie had done.

"Ah. Bulda." Not so curious, then. Like him, she had been adapting to a human sleep schedule. "Looking for the boy?"

"Well... no." Apparently satisfied with _whatever_ she was looking for, she turned back to Pabbie. "The princess."

"Elsa? Why?"

Bulda's normally cheerful face was grim.

"We need to talk."

* * *

The princess in question was balanced atop a thrust of rock at the edges of the trolls' domain. The barren stony valley bordered the forest. She'd spent the week scouring the treeline for a glimpse of the city. The forest was dense and vast, but Elsa had little else to occupy her time. If she climbed just so high and looked through just the right gap in the trees, she'd learned she could see clear to the harbor.

The fjord glittered reds and oranges in the sunset. Elsa watched the last of the light on Arendelle, nestled in fiery lit waters. She could just make out the spires of the castle. She imagined she could pick out her- no, _Anna's _room.

The sun slid beneath the horizon, extinguishing the light on the water. She jumped down from her perch, landing softly on the dirt. It was time to go back.

Time for magic.

* * *

"The prophecy is nonsense, Bulda."

"Well, yeah," she agreed. "Probably."

Pabbie narrowed his eyes. "We haven't made any prophecies for hundreds of years. There is no more stock in this one than the wives' tale that trolls kidnap children."

Bulda deadpanned. Pabbie blinked at her once. Twice.

"That-this is different," he sputtered. "We didn't _kidnap_ them."

"Speak for yourself," she said. "Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. I need to know - are you going to tell her?"

"No," Pabbie answered immediately.

"Why not?" Bulda demanded, the rest of the argument already forming on her lips. Pabbie held his hands out, waving her into reluctant silence.

"Whether there is any truth in the prophecy," Pabbie lowered his hands and chose his words carefully. "Or not, knowing it will only pressure her. We _must_ not let her know."

Bulda frowned. "Is she that out of control?"

"I don't know," Pabbie sighed. "Not yet. I can't tell. Her magic is chaotic and unpredictable right now. It may even out after she learns to control it."

"And if it doesn't?"

Pabbie's face was grim. "Fighting her fate will only bring it upon her that much faster." 

* * *

Elsa picked her way through the sleeping trolls to the hillside of Pabbie's cave. The sun was still dying on the horizon. All trolls were still sleeping. Yet she heard hushed voices echoing on the mountain.

"…should know…"

"…that is _final…"_

Pabbie's voice, and one other. Two trolls emerged from the cave. They saw her immediately, obvious as she was, standing alone among the rocks.

"Elsa," Pabbie called. "Stay there. I'll be right down."

Elsa felt like she'd been caught doing something wrong. She nodded. The trolls whispered to each other for a minute more, careful to keep their voices low. Then they curled into balls and rolled down the pathway together. Pabbie slowed when he reached the foot of the path, but his companion escaped before Elsa could tell who it was.

The elder extended his hand to Elsa, who scurried across the rocky ground to him. He took her hand in his and they walked wordlessly to the field to practice.

* * *

"Freeze it."

Elsa raised a hand. The boulder (just a boulder - though Pabbie assured her, Elsa took care to check that she was not going to freeze one of the trolls) was suddenly shining in the moonlight with a thin layer of frost.

"Thaw it."

Pabbie never offered words of encouragement while they were training. He barely made any expression at all. He only told her what to do, and she obeyed him.

Or she tried to. The freezing, that was easy. That came naturally to her, like walking, like breathing. But taking away the ice was another beast entirely. she held both hands out, concentrating on melting. she imagined water dripping down the boulder. She imagined the frost flowing back into her, the magic traveling back into her fingertips and up her arms and settling somewhere around her heart, cool and comforting.

What actually happened was she stood with her arms outstretched, and the rock stayed just as frozen as when she started.

"Do not fear it," Pabbie ordered. "It is part of you. It will listen to you if you tell it what to do."

Elsa nodded, tempted to bite out, _I am telling it what to do_ but she refrained. Anna would probably say something like that. Anna would probably be able to help her thaw the stupid thing. Her powers always worked better with Anna around.

Except—

Until—

The frost thickened into a proper layer of ice, obscuring the rock itself until it resembled an iceberg. Elsa tried to slow the magic, but it kept pouring out of her open palms. The boulder was twice its size, and finally Pabbie stepped forward and shouted,

"Stop!"

Elsa lowered her hands and tried not to think of the white in her sister's hair. Her hands clenched without thinking. The magic stopped.

"Elsa," the old troll sighed, crossing the field. Elsa bowed her head, bracing for his rebuke. "What were you thinking of?"

"Nothing," she said too quickly. Pabbie fixed her a look. She frowned, admitted, "My sister."

"I know you miss your family, but every time..." Pabbie trailed off, recalling the _last _two times Elsa had lost control while practicing. "You must put them from your mind when you're using your powers."

"I know," she nodded. But the more she tried not to think about it, the harder it was to put from her mind. Every happy memory of home turned into her parents' worried faces, her sister cold and motionless, frost spiraling and covering the ballroom.

Pabbie offered his heavy hand. Elsa took it, and the earth started whispering to her.

"Do you feel the magic, Elsa?"

She nodded. Pabbie dug his feet into the ground, and the magic flowed through him into her, warm and heavy where hers was cold and airy. It was like he threw a blanket over her shoulders. Together they raised their hands. The ice thinned and finally water ran off the boulder.

"I think that is enough for tonight," Pabbie sighed. Elsa hung her head. Pabbie patted her hand in an attempt to be reassuring.

"Give it time. You are improving," he smiled distantly, his eyes far away and focused past her. Elsa nodded. Pabbie gave her hand one last squeeze and rolled away.

The moon was just rising. Pabbie tried to compromise their schedules, waking earlier so Elsa would not have to stay up as late - the trolls being nocturnal and all - but Elsa still had trouble adjusting to the long nights and short days.

The combination of magic and lack of sleep was taking its toll. Elsa was so tired. She turned, intending to return to her spot in Pabbie's cave. Instead of empty hillside, she found herself staring into the eyes of the boy, peeking out from behind a boulder. He realized he'd been caught and ducked out of sight. Elsa sighed.

"What are you doing?"

She heard his reindeer bleat, a shush, and then silence.

"You shouldn't watch it. It's dangerous."

She waited for his reaction. She hoped he would just leave. Or say nothing. He glanced out from the rock, and discovering Elsa to still be there, he hopped out. He did neither of the things she hoped, instead called across the field to her.

"I don't think it's dangerous. I think it's really cool." She stepped back as he walked out of his hiding spot. He noticed her retreat and stopped.

"You don't know," she shook her head, eyes shining with whatever it was Kristoff didn't know. But halfway across the field and with as much experience with other human children as the trolls, he didn't take pause.

"You can make ice," he said in awe, walking to her again without thinking. Elsa wrapped her arms around herself, pressing her hands to her arms.

"You saw us. That night. Didn't you?" He didn't deny her accusation. Sven bounded next to him and let out a bray, nodding his head furiously. Kristoff groaned at his friend's lack of subtlety.

"Yeah," he admitted. "But we were just following the ice. We had to see where it was coming from!"

Elsa's head snapped up. "What ice?" Kristoff blinked, surprised at her sudden reaction.

"Uh.. there was a trail of ice. From your horse. I mean, from you, but following your horse. It led to the trolls. I didn't know it was you. We didn't mean to spy or anything."

Elsa stared at him in disbelief. Ice. On the way there. She didn't even remember it. Was her control that weak? The wind stirred. The boy was walking towards her but she hardly noticed.

"Um... are you okay?"

"No," Elsa snapped, then quickly regretted it. "I'm... no. I'm sorry. I just..." That night was burned into her memory. It was a panicked whirlwind, but one that she remembered in excruciating detail. Horses. Mountainside. _Fear_.

Not ice. Not magic. Her stomach dropped at the thought—or the lack of a thought. Her voice was tight."I didn't know I made ice then."

"What's it like to make ice?" Elsa was about to retort a snappy _I_ _don't want to talk about it—_but she looked up at his eager face. He didn't notice how uncomfortable she was. He was too excited, his grin wide and lighting up his face. It reminded her of Anna. His eagerness warmed her, drawing her out of days of solitude. She pondered her response carefully.

"It's cold here-" she tapped her chest. "-and I feel it in my arms and hands and then-I can make it snow." She waved her hands in front of her and a snowball appeared. _Do the magic_. She hurled it into the air and snowflakes fell gently around them.

"Wow," he stared open-mouthed at the sudden snowfall. "That's... wow."

Snow dusted the moss, melting against the warm earth. The field shined like starlight. Elsa bowed her head, as though she was ashamed of it.

"Yeah. But it's dangerous," she repeated to the ground. Kristoff shook his head.

"I still think it's cool." He chuckled. Elsa lifted her head, raising her eyebrows at the bad joke. Kristoff's laugh faded.

"Thank you," Elsa said at last.

"I'm Kristoff," he stuck out his bare hand to Elsa. "By the way." She eyed the hand like it might attack her. Kristoff looked from her face to his arm. His expression changed - offended somehow, and resigned. "Oh," he muttered, like he just figured something out. "Cause you're a princess and all."

Elsa didn't comprehend-until his face fell and he said _princess_, and she realized he thought that _she_ thought- "No," she said quickly. "It's not that-you're not-" But he wasn't listening anymore, so she rushed forward and grabbed his hand.

"I'm Elsa," she said, shaking his hand. It was nice, she realized, just to feel another person again.

"Princess Elsa." Kristoff grasped her hand as well, but his expression was still wary. Elsa shook her heard. In the mountains with only one other human, she couldn't feel less like a princess.

"Just Elsa."

"Oh. Okay," Kristoff smiled. "Elsa."

* * *

There was a crowd waiting for Pabbie when he returned to his cave. Half a dozen trolls ringed the entrance.

"Grand Pabbie,"

He furrowed his brow.

_Your future is bleak. Your kingdom will splinter._

"The council wishes to speak with you."

* * *

Elsa, Kristoff, and Sven wandered along the edge of the forest. Or rather Kristoff and Sven led the way and Elsa followed. Both were adjusting to the trolls' nocturnal schedule, and despite the moon high in the sky, neither was tired.

"You should come harvesting with me sometime," Kristoff was saying. He hopped up onto a log, sticking out his arms for balance when he wobbled dangerously.

"Harvesting?"

He jumped off the end of the log and stuck out his chest with pride. "We're ice harvesters."

"You harvest… ice?" The image was ridiculous, but Elsa pictured them chipping away at an iceberg. She pushed the thought aside-suddenly his enthusiasm for her powers made a whole lot more sense.

"Yeah, not all of us can just… _whoosh_ and make it, you know," he laughed. "We have to cut it out of the mountain!" Elsa smiled.

"That sounds hard."

"Yeah, it's real hard work—sometimes we're gone for _weeks_," Kristoff swatted a fern that threatened to hit him in the face. He was walking a deliberate path, turning at landmarks – a mossy boulder, a crooked tree, a ford in the stream—talking nonstop all the while. Elsa liked just listening to him. Hearing about the harvesting was interesting, for one thing, but it was wonderful to not think about magic or being a princess and just walk with someone.

"…each cube has to be the same size, or we can't sell them…"

The trees were getting thinner. The ground was rock. Elsa heard a sharp hissing noise and jumped.

"What was that?"

"Oh, just one of the hot springs," Kristoff shrugged. "They do that a lot." He kept walking forward, toward the creepy noises. Elsa stopped.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"Oh. Oh yeah. I totally forgot you were—I mean, you can come with us, it's gonna be fun and we could use one more—"

"Kristoff." There was a beat in which Elsa processed—and was horrified-that she'd _interrupted _him. Her tutors would lecture her for hours. But Kristoff just broke off his rambling with a sheepish grin, knowing full well he'd been over-explaining, and she remembered that her tutors weren't there.

"Hot springs," he answered. "We're meeting some of the guys to play hockey."

Guys. Play.

_Hockey?_

"Um… what?" _Um. _Good job, Elsa. Way to converse like a lady. Would her parents even recognize her when she got home?

"Hockey. Y'know. You try to hit the puck into the other team's goal…" Elsa's face was blank. "No...? Princesses don't play hockey?"

"No," she said. "Princesses do not."

"Well you're _just _Elsa now, so you can play hockey with us!"

"Okay…"

* * *

_Your land shall be cursed with unending winter._

"One at a time," Pabbie raised his hands over the group, trying to quell the overlapping voices. They fell silent, looking to each other. One, the tallest, stepped forward. His pale red gems caught the moonlight.

"Orm," Pabbie inclined his head. "Please. What do you have to say?"

"Pabbie," Orm intoned, his deep voice filling the cave. "I am sure you know the prophecies. 'All will perish in snow and ice.' We must not let it come to pass. Not only for us, but for the innocent lives in the town."

"I agree. We must not. But there is nothing to say that Elsa is part of the prophecy."

"She can create _snow_, for Odin's sake!" one of the younger members of the group, Edda, exclaimed. "When has there been a clearer sign?"

"Many, many times," was Pabbie's simple reply.

"Even if she is not the prophecy," a squat troll with long tufts of grassy hair raised a hand to indicate herself. "She should know that she might be."

"That will just cause her needless grief!" Pabbie shouted, starting to lose his temper.

"He has a point," a quiet voice in the back agreed. Her blue gems shone when she spoke, and the crowd became somehow calmer. Pabbie sighed, getting control of his anger.

"Thank you, Verdand,"

"Pabbie," A troll even older than Pabbie, doubled over and mossy with age, stepped forward. "No. The signs are clear. You want to protect the girl."

Pabbie blanched. The silence lay thick as all the trolls stared at him.

"Yes, Nori," he admitted. "You're right. I don't want to place the burden of the entire kingdom on her yet. Is that so wrong?"

Pabbie felt the pity, the judgement, the open scorn in their eyes. He knew how foolish he must sound, needlessly shielding the human girl from the truth, lying to her because he wanted to save her innocence.

Orm shook his mossy head. "You forget she is to be queen. She has the burden of a kingdom on her already."

"We _know _the prophecy. We have a responsibility," Edda said gently.

"Those villagers know it too. What will happen when she returns and they mob her?" Nori added.

"They won't because we will teach her how to use her magic!" Pabbie shouted, silencing them again. "We will teach her to use magic, she will _not _be a threat, and the prophecy will _not _come to pass!"

"Pabbie," Orm put a hand on his old friend's shoulder. "The council has already reached a unanimous decision. We are more than happy to care for the girl and teach her our ways. But she must know why. You must tell her. Tonight."

Pabbie looked to the faces of his friends for any sympathy, any chance he might talk them out of this decision. They looked on him not unkindly, but determinedly. There would be no compromising. He thought of the girl, the weight of her sisters's life already hanging over her head. She was already destined to care for the entire kingdom. Perhaps she should know, so that she might not harm anyone again. Pabbie felt uneasy, but he saw the wisdom in his friends' words.

"Very well," Pabbie sighed. "Let us go."

* * *

"Hey guys!" Kristoff called into the clearing. Elsa hung back a few steps as a couple trolls rolled over to Kristoff and tackled him. Half a dozen more were scattered about, knocking a stone around with carved branches.

"Kristoff!" one shouted.

"We're gonna have to play 4-a-side today," the other pouted, crossing her arms. Kristoff frowned and counted the trolls. _Six-seven-eight_ he mouthed, _nine_, pointing to himself… Sven jumped up, but Kristoff shook his head, still pointing at himself. He scanned the group, making sure he hadn't missed anyone… and his eyes found Elsa.

"Elsa?" He asked. The entire group turned their attention to her, and she wasn't quite sure why until she noticed Kristoff pointing at her and the trolls huddled into two slightly uneven groups.

"What—me? No. I don't even know how to play."

"Aw, it's easy!" the second troll said, turning her attention to Elsa, not even _blinking _that she was human—or magic—or so hopelessly out of place. Kristoff could see her distress.

"You don't have to," he offered, though clearly he wanted her to join. "It's cool."

"I…"

Something nudged her, pushing her forward until she was on Kristoff's level. She twisted around to see Sven's face poking out from behind her. He offered a sheepish smile, then butted his head on her hand. After a moment Elsa understood and scratched between his ears.

"Well…" she looked to the group of trolls huddled around Kristoff, staring at her expectantly. She thought briefly of the tutors, her parents, her— she tried to stop thinking about them because it always ended in heartache and something freezing— but she couldn't help but finish the thought of her sister. _Anna would say yes. _She tried to force the image out of her mind, but her magic didn't seem to care this time. The tension she'd been carrying from the frozen boulder finally loosened. Elsa, slowly, let herself relax, and found she was not losing control.

"Okay," she smiled.


End file.
